After over a decade in the wilderness following his firing from Nikkatsu for Branded to Kill (1967), maverick director Seijun Suzuki returned with a vengeance with his critically-praised tryptic of cryptic supernatural dramas set during the liberal enlightenment of Japan’s Taisho Era (1912-26).

In the multiple Japanese Academy Award-winning Zigeunerweisen (1980), two intellectuals and former colleagues from military academy involve their wives in a series of dangerous sexual games. In Kageroza (1981), a playwright is drawn like a moth to a flame to a mysterious beauty who might be a ghost, while Yumeji (1991) imagines the real-life painter-poet Takehisa Yumeji’s encounter with a beautiful widow with a dark past.

Presented together on Blu-ray for the first time outside of Japan, the films in the Taisho Trilogy are considered Suzuki’s masterpieces in his homeland. Presenting a dramatic turn from more his familiar tales of cops, gangsters and unruly youth, these surrealistic psychological puzzles drip with a lush exoticism, distinctively capturing the pandemonium of a bygone age of decadence and excess, when Western ideas, fashions, technologies and art fused into everyday aspect of Japanese life.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentationsOriginal stereo audio (uncompressed on the Blu-ray)Optional English subtitlesNew introductions to each film by critic Tony RaynsMaking-of featuretteVintage interview with Seijun SuzukiMore to be announced…

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Booklet featuring writing on the films by critic Jasper Sharp and more.

WOW. I'm sure Tony Rayns' introductions will be exemplary, but these three films really cry out for some documentary supplements and commentaries to flesh out the complex allusions and storylines in these films.

Absolutely fantastic! The USDVDeditions of these films were not that great quality (and almost unwatchable for such vibrant films) even at the time of their release over a decade ago. And I don't think they've ever been released in the UK at all.

Last edited by colinr0380 on Mon Mar 20, 2017 2:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

WOW. I'm sure Tony Rayns' introductions will be exemplary, but these three films really cry out for some documentary supplements and commentaries to flesh out the complex allusions and storylines in these films.

My thoughts exactly. I am/was REALLY hoping we will/would get a commentary, at least on Tsiegeunerweisen. There are a lot of cultural allusions that are very opaque, but hopefully Rayns' intros and the essays will go into that. Whatever they do, I can't wait to see these cleaned up. The prints I saw were pretty rough. Curious if anyone's bothered with the Japanese set so we can get an idea of what to expect visually, but since it lacks English subs...

I also hope we get complete subtitles for these. The songs weren't translated on the 35mm print I saw last year, and they're such a prominent feature in the first film that I can't imagine they're inconsequential.

This should be a great rescue. Surely the transfers and subs will be completely redone, and I am hopeful that there will be sufficient context provided by whatever the final roster of extras prove to be. Another unexpected but very welcome release in a year that is already proving to be full of them.

I have checked with arrow about the bonus feature,how many sets will be released and second pressing,this is the reply:

Hi,

Just to let you know, I've just spoken to Arrow and they advised that you keep an eye on their Facebook page for updates on the special features as more will be revealed. If you don't follow it already, it can be found at https://www.facebook.com/ArrowAcademy.

The set will be limited to 3,000 in the UK and 3,000 in the US, and it's unlikely that all of the films in the set will be released as a second pressing.

Not hyperbolic, as they say "considered...in his homeland": Branded to Kill and Tokyo Drifter are far more prized internationally and have cool and easily recognizable crime genre tropes, while Zigeunerweisen, for example, was a huge domestic success but wasn't really distributed internationally. The Kino/Kimstim DVD release of the trilogy didn't make anything close to the impression in the West that Criterion's earlier Suzuki DVDs had.